The present invention relates to fishing lures and, in particular, to a multi-stranded elastomer skirt having an RTV adhesive based ink mixture and/or metal foil applied to one or more surfaces of the skirt and the method of manufacture thereof.
A dressing commonly mounted to fishing lures, such as jigs, xe2x80x9cspinner baitsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbuzz baitsxe2x80x9d, is a multi-stranded skirt. The skirts are typically fabricated from sheets of an elastomer material, such as natural rubber or silicone rubber. The cured rubber sheets typically exhibit a relatively rough surface. Each sheet is processed into a number of regions that define individual skirts and each skirt is defined by a multiplicity of slits or strands that are attached to solid borders that bound the ends of the strands. The skirts are cut from the sheets with the borders attached and the strands are contained by the borders, until the strands are collected and bound together.
Rubber bands and elastomer collars are frequently used to secure the strands together. After banding, the borders are cut from the strands and the skirt is ready to be mounted to a desired lure. Banded skirts are principally sold to lure manufacturers. Examples of banded skirts can be found at U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,640,041 and 5,251,395.
Examples of xe2x80x9crollupxe2x80x9d skirts or skirts with elastomer collars are shown at U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,517,782 and 5,709,047. Rollup skirts are formed by rolling and bonding the border of a skirt to a tubular, elastomer core piece with an appropriate adhesive. Once bonded, the border is cutaway and the cut ends of the strands trail from the core piece. The core piece and wrapped skirt stretch when the skirt is mounted to a lure.
Banded and rollup skirts are also commonly sold in the after-market to fisher persons as replacement components and to permit a fisher person to doctor his or her lures to a specific presentation, commensurate with fishing conditions. Skirts can tear or discolor from exposure to ultraviolet light, contaminants in the water or tackle box, and age. Natural and latex rubber are also susceptible to heat.
Most lures that use skirts include a molded lead head. Spinner baits and buzz baits also include a formed wire that protrudes from a head or body and support one or more metal blades that spin and vibrate as the lure is retrieved. A fishing line is attached to the wire or an eye of a hook that protrudes from the head or body. As the lures are retrieved, the strands of the skirt undulate with movement of the lure through water to entice a predator species of fish to strike.
One or more finished skirts are normally attached to a fishing lure at the rubber band or collar. The skirts can have the same or different colors and/or surface treatments. The skirt color is normally determined by colotants and metal flakes or glitter that are added to the rubber mixture during pre-forming.
Finished skirts exhibit a rainbow of colors and color combinations. Skirt appearance can be enhanced by printing patterns onto the rubber sheeting. Conventional inks, however, are not compatible with silicone rubber. The ink either doesn""t adhere or does so only with difficulty. U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,395 discloses a thermal setting adhesive ink for silicone rubber fishing skirts. The ink is prepared from a conformal coating that is mixed with a pigment. The mixture is not thinned with a solvent and sets only in the presence of a thermal catalyst.
Skirt appearance may also be enhanced by bonding a metal foil to selected regions of the skirt. Foil covered skirts however are difficult to produce. Natural and latex rubber will accept conventional heat bonded foils, but rubber degrades from heat and sunlight. Silicone rubber, on the other hand, does not readily accept conventional foils, since the foils tend to peel and lift off.
The silicone rubber skirts of the present invention were developed to exhibit durable printed ink and metal foil finishes. Specially mixed adhesive inks that cure upon exposure to humidity and at room temperature were developed. The inks and foils are applied over continuous areas or in defined patterns. The printed ink and foil regions are also aligned or self-registered to separately printed, dyed, foiled and/or textured surfaces.
Alternative ink and foil bonding methods were developed to obtain the durable silicone rubber skirts. The methods selectively 1) print a solvent thinned, RTV adhesive based ink mixture that sets in the presence of humidity to a silicone rubber substrate, 2) vulcanize a foil to the substrate and/or 3) selectively define regions having relatively smooth and rough surface textures at the substrate. The adhesive ink can be printed by itself to the silicone rubber substrate to define a desired appearance. The adhesive ink can also be used to selectively bond commercially available foils to the substrate. The foil may also be vulcanized to the substrate or pressure bonded to surfaces having textures (e.g. 4-50 micro finish) demonstrating preferential adhesion characteristics to the foil. Varieties of ornamental surface treatments are obtained using the foregoing steps alone or in combination.
It is accordingly a primary object of the invention to provide an adhesive based printing ink mixture compatible with silicone rubber and foil laminates and simplified application processes and from which multi-colored ornamental surface treatments can be produced on silicone rubber sheets.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an adhesive ink mixture that is compatible with silicone rubber, that includes a room temperature vulcanization (RTV) adhesive, oil-based thinner, pigment, glitter and/or other additives, and that sets in the presence of a humidity catalyst.
It is a further object of the invention to provide silicone rubber substrates having foil regions that are bonded to regions printed with a RTV adhesive ink mixture.
It is a further object of the invention to provide fishing skirts having foils that are bonded to surfaces demonstrating preferential surface textures determined during the forming of the silicone rubber substrate or subsequent pressing or printing operations.
It is a further object of the invention to silk screen suitably colored RTV adhesive ink mixture(s) onto a silicone rubber substrate and/or bond a foil to the printed ink while wet or dried.
It is a further object of the invention to bond one or more foils to smooth surface regions determined by a printed ink or formed into the silicone rubber substrate.
Various of the foregoing objects, advantages and distinctions of the invention are obtained in a number of presently preferred silicone rubber skirts and processes used to fabricate the skirts. The skirts include printed RTV adhesive ink mixtures and/or vulcanized or laminated foils. The RTV adhesive inks are defined by mixtures of RTV adhesives, oil-based solvents and pigment.
The aforementioned processes control substrate coloration, the placement of an RTV adhesive ink and/or surface texture to ornament selected regions of a silicon rubber substrate. In some processes, the solvent thinned RTV adhesive ink is silk screen printed onto the cured silicone rubber substrate. The concentration and granularity of pigment in the ink can be controlled to define surface textures compatible with foil bonding. In other processes, the curing of a silicone rubber pre-form is controlled relative to the bonding of a foil and/or a template is used to define smooth surface regions at the vulcanized sheet that support a foil bond. In still other processes, one or more foils are bonded at differing times in relation to the printing and splitting of the sheet.
Still other objects, advantages, distinctions and constructions of the invention will become more apparent from the following description with respect to the appended drawings. Similar components and assemblies are referred to in the various drawings with similar alphanumeric reference characters. The description should not be literally construed in limitation of the invention. Rather, the invention should be interpreted within the broad scope of the further appended claims.